On Thursday, the ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights will join the Programa de Defensa e Incidencia Binacional (Bi-national Defense and Advocacy Program, PBID), a delegation of Mexican non-governmental organizations, as they travel to Washington, D.C., to present the results of a study that illustrates the abuses experienced by migrants at the hands of authorities in the United States and in Mexico.
By Michael Macleod-Ball, Chief of Staff, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:57pm
The full U. S. Senate took up the potentially historic bill to overhaul the country's immigration system last week.
At the top of the week, things looked rosy. S. 744 flew through initial procedural hurdles to allowing the chamber to take up the bill, with rare flying colors. This might have led to a surge in optimism about the bill, especially given the heady tone of the markup sessions in the Senate Judiciary Committee just two weeks earlier.
By Michael Tan, Staff Attorney, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU at 9:37am
One year ago, the immigrant youth movement won the most important immigrants' rights victory in recent memory: the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants young immigrants who came to the U.S. as children—or Dreamers—the ability to live and work in the country legally. As of this May, about 365,000 young immigrants have been granted DACA, and are working hard, going to school, and giving back to their communities—a preview of the benefits all of us stand to gain should Congress pass immigration reform this year.
I recently learned about a group of young people who did something extremely brave. They were invited to lunch with Nebraska's Governor, Dave Heineman...
By Lucero Chavez, ACLU of Southern California & Sean Riordan, ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties at 7:35pm
Why are so many Mexican nationals with deep family ties in the United States and strong claims to reside here lawfully instead "choosing" to be immediately expelled from the country? Because immigration enforcement authorities in Southern California routinely pressure these immigrants – some of whom have been here for decades – to surrender their right to seek legal status. Through abuse of a process known as "administrative voluntary departure," Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers compel these immigrants to involuntarily sign summary expulsion orders. Today, the ACLU and Cooley LLP filed suit in California to challenge these endemic abuses.
By Andre Segura, Immigrants' Rights Project at 10:13am
Plaintiffs have established that the MCSO had sufficient intent to discriminate against Latino occupants of motor vehicles. Further, the Court concludes that the MCSO had and continues to have a facially discriminatory policy of considering Hispanic appearance probative of whether a person is legally present in the country in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The MCSO is thus permanently enjoined from using race, or allowing its deputies and other agents to use race as a criteria in making law enforcement decisions with respect to Latino occupants of vehicles in Maricopa County.
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:04pm
The immigration reform bill that has emerged from the Senate Judiciary Committee is good – not ideal, not awful, but good. It is a game changer for those who currently have no hope of realizing the Constitution's promise of equal protection. But it also creates real risks to privacy for all Americans regardless of status and expands the kind of database environment that many of us fear will give the government access to far too broad a swath of our lives. And the bill creates the kind of militarized environment along our southern border that is extremely costly, harmful to border communities' quality of life, and enormously inefficient. And we must not forget that some are wrongly excluded from even a chance at the fruits of immigration reform – beginning with those who happen to love someone of the same sex.
By Sarah Mehta, Fellow, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU & Alex Berger, Legislative Assistant, ACLU at 9:36am
In yesterday's flurry of activity in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the comprehensive immigration reform bill, there were two big wins for civil liberties: Blumenthal 2, an amendment that limits solitary confinement in immigration detention, and Blumenthal 8, an amendment that restricts Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers from conducting raids in schools, churches or hospitals.
